JAPANESE SLAUGHTER OF
WHALES AND PORPOISES
Page 2

HUMPBACK WHALE UNDER WATER

HUMPBACK WHALES FEEDING

THE
DOLPHIN HORROR STORY

Every year
more than 20,000 dolphins, whales, and porpoises are killed
by Japan. This is the largest deliberate slaughter of dolphins
in the world. In Taiji Bay, a picturesque tourist attraction,
Japanese fishermen employ "drive fishery" to force
dolphins and other sea mammals ashore then hack them to death,
slashing their throats and stabbing them with spears and knives
repeatedly.

Fishermen go out in boats to known dolphin
migratory routes. Positioning their boats strategically, they
space out to form a line and wait for the dolphins. When the
dolphins arrive, the fishermen drop long metal pipes into
the water, and by banging on the pipes they create a wall
of sound. The sound interferes with the dolphins' ability
to navigate - it disorients and panics them. The dolphins
swim away from the sound, and the fisherman maneuver their
boats herding them into a small shallow bay. Once in the bay,
nets are drawn across the mouth of the bay to keep them penned
in. Dolphins will not abandon these wounded family members
and so they are trapped and brutally killed.

Even though dolphins are among the world's
most intelligent animals, the fishermen view the animals as
"pests" who compete for fish.

The Japanese fishermen use threats and
violence to keep tourists and others away from the bay, knowing
that their fellow citizens and the world-at-large would oppose
them. The Japanese government issues permits to allow this
massacre. The government and fishermen are so secretive that
the majority of Japanese people don't even know the slaughter
occurs.

After the massacre, the bodies of the dolphins
are taken to a slaughter house to be butchered. The meat is
severely contaminated with pollutants but is sold without
warnings in supermarkets in Japan - supermarkets often owned
by US and European chains. We need your help to stop this
senseless killing.